


Thrawn's Bucket List

by consideritalljoy



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Thrawn - Timothy Zahn
Genre: Canon Compliant, Crack, Cute, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-29 18:33:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11446644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/consideritalljoy/pseuds/consideritalljoy
Summary: Bored to death by their times stuck on Coruscant, Eli decides to make a game out of having Thrawn try as many common human experiences as possible.





	Thrawn's Bucket List

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to lightrain-09 on Tumblr for coming up with the headcanon that Thrawn would love ice cream because of Csilla.

It was Eli who first came up with the game.

As Thrawn moved further up within the imperial navy, he and Eli were obliged to spend more and more time on Coruscant. It seemed counterintuitive, really, but Eli informed him that it was simply politics as usual within the Empire. 

With the increase of time off stuck on the core world in between assignments, Thrawn and Eli found themselves with little to do. On one particular late afternoon, the pair of them wandered the streets aimlessly, looking for some way to pass the time.

Suddenly, Eli stopped in his tracks and jerked his head up. “You know what I just realized?” he asked. 

“Indeed I do not, Ensign,” Thrawn responded, stopping and turning to face him. “What have you realized?”

“That you don’t have much experience with humans, really. You do know navy stuff, of course, but I mean the regular stuff. You got taken from your exile and thrown into the navy without any time in between.”

“This is true. To what ‘regular stuff’ do you refer?” Thrawn asked. 

“I don’t know, loads of things,” came the reply. _Eli moves his shoulders in a shrug even as his voice speeds up and his pitch rises. He is excited by this prospect. He is likely formulating some manner of plan._

Thrawn faintly smiled. “Would you consider this lack of experience in human ‘regular stuff’ to be detrimental to my ability to interact with your species?”

“I mean, it’s not really necessary. But you do like culture, right? Details. We need to let you experience the details of human culture firsthand.” _His face brightens further and he begins to walk again._ “It’s hot out, right?”

In comparison to Thrawn’s icy homeworld, everywhere was. “Indeed,” he told Eli. 

“Do they have ice cream where you’re from?”

“I do not believe so. What is it?” 

Eli smirked. “Wait and find out.” After a quick search on his datapad, Eli lead the way and left Thrawn to follow. 

They walked only a few more blocks before stopping at a small shop. It was barely more than a hole in the block, and yet as Thrawn glanced back to Eli, he saw his aide’s coy excitement only rise. 

Inside, white tile lined the floor and the color scheme focused mainly on pastels. Small metal tables and chairs littered the main floor, while behind a counter, a young Twi’lek girl sold the delicacy in question. 

He stood back while Eli spoke with the girl and came back holding two of what Thrawn supposed must be the “ice cream.” 

“Here,” Eli said, holding out out to him. “I got you vanilla since it’s your first time.”

 _A hard cone-shaped shell supports a cream-colored orb of reasonably weighty substance. Given the name, that substance is most likely of a cream base, frozen relatively solid._ Looking to Eli as an example, Thrawn narrowed his eyes in mild confusion as he bit directly into the orb. 

_Cold._ Thrawn’s eyes widened again as he held the sweet, cold ice cream on his tongue. He swallowed. _The cold continues down the throat along the esophagus._

He looked back to Eli, who was staring at him with a wide grin and sparkling eyes. “I know, right?” Eli said proudly. 

Thrawn did not respond, because doing so would have prevented him from eating more of the ice cream. The more of it he consumed, the more intense the cold inside him became. Even his chest felt colder. He didn’t respond until all of the ice cream was gone. 

“It’s cold,” he said breathlessly, when he finally did speak again. _Csilla._ When he’d left, he’d underestimated how uncomfortable the warmer climate would get on other worlds. “The cold is inside of me.”

“Well, yeah,” Eli said back in between small bites. “That’s kind of the point. When it’s hot out, humans like to freeze cream and some other stuff and make it into ice cream. I was going to tell you before that you gotta eat it kind of fast or else it starts to melt, but it didn’t really seem like you were going to have that problem... Did you like it?”

Thrawn took a second to consider before answering. “Would it be acceptable to buy another?”

Throwing back his head, Eli laughed openly. “Why not? Go for it. If I were you, I’d try chocolate next.” 

Thrawn did try chocolate next. And then mint. And then one that Thrawn didn’t know the name of, but liked because it was blue. With each one, the cold inside him intensified. Thrawn could hardly contain his joy. 

“Humans truly are an ingenious species, Ensign,” Thrawn said in between cones. 

Eli shrugged. “It’s just a dessert food. And, um, not to pry, but how many of those are you thinking you’re going to have?”

“As many as it takes,” Thrawn answered vaguely. The coldness in him felt almost genuine after his third. Surely, he thought, the fourth would solidify the feeling for a while longer. “Is this the only place one may acquire this ice cream?”

“It’s pretty much everywhere, really,” Eli answered. “I would have bought you some way earlier if I’d’ve known you were going to like it so much.” 

After four, Thrawn deemed it best to limit himself to merely two more. Those he bought at the same time, and together he and Eli walked back through the streets of Coruscant as the afternoon gave way to evening. 

“Thank you, Ensign,” Thrawn said as they neared their destination. “For thinking to show me human ‘regular stuff,’ that is.”

Eli chuckled. “Ice cream isn’t the only thing I was thinking about when I said that. You still have a lot to experience regarding humans. And judging by how much you liked this expedition, I’d say it was about time we work on showing you some more.”

Thrawn nodded. “That sounds like a profitable endeavor to pursue while on Coruscant in the future. Perhaps we should make a list.” 

“Yeah, actually,” Eli agreed. _He speaks from the back of his throat in a tone that indicates newfound realization._ “A list could be good. Humans make those too, actually.”

“Lists? I would imagine so; most species do,” Thrawn said. 

“No no, I mean lists specifically of stuff that the human wants to experience at different times. People call them ‘bucket lists.’ I’m… not really sure why they call them that, I guess. But they do. And we should have one!” Eli finished.

“I see. Furthermore, I also agree,” Thrawn said. “First on the list, I want to go back to the shop we visited today and in time, purchase every available flavor of ice cream.” 

Eli’s grin seemed larger than life. “You got it. I’ll start thinking of other stuff. Oh man, Coruscant just got way more fun.”

Thrawn smiled back. “Indeed it has,” he said. The cold left in him from the ice cream was already fading, but now he knew that more was readily available. Whatever else Eli could come up with to do with their time on this planet, Thrawn was more than willing to try it.

**Author's Note:**

> Frankly I was astounded by my willingness to write something this fluffy, and even more astounded by my willingness to post it on the internet, but here you go. Hopefully it'll make someone out there smile. ❤❤❤
> 
> I'll be adding new one-shots at random on any given bucket list item I take a fancy to, so if you think of any, tell me what they are in the comments and I might just make it happen. :)


End file.
